Why are ministry sabbaticals important? Today we talk to Zac Linton. He has been a successful evangelist for many years, but this year he decided to slow down and take a sabbatical. Today we learn why times of rest are important for ministers.
Learn more about the ministry of Zac Linton: https://www.overflow.global/
Key Verses on Taking a Ministry Sabbatical:
Exodus 20:8-10 (Fourth Commandment – Sabbath): ”Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it, you shall do no work…”
Genesis 2:2-3 (God’s Rest After Creation): ”And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.”
Mark 6:31 (Jesus’ Invitation to Rest): ”And he said to them, ‘Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while.’ For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat.”
Matthew 11:28-30 (Jesus’ Call to Rest): ”Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
Psalm 23:1-3 (The Lord as Our Shepherd): ”The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul.”
Isaiah 40:31 (Renewed Strength): ”But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.”
Psalm 46:10 (Be Still and Know): ”Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations; I will be exalted in the earth.”
Leviticus 25:4-5 (Sabbatical Year): ”But in the seventh year, there shall be a Sabbath of solemn rest for the land, a Sabbath to the Lord. You shall not sow your field or prune your vineyard.”
Jeremiah 31:25 (Refresh the Weary Soul): ”For I will satisfy the weary soul, and every languishing soul I will replenish.”
Psalm 34:8 (Taste and See): “Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!”
Transcript:
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (00:11):
Welcome to the Evangelism Podcast. I’m Daniel King and I’m excited to tell people about Jesus Today. I have a very special guest with me. Zac Linton, thank you for being on the Evangelism Podcast.
Zac Linton (00:27):
Yeah, great to be here. Thank you Daniel.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (00:29):
All right, Zach, you lead overflow ministries and you have a great heart for evangelism. Tell me a little bit about how you got started in evangelism.
Zac Linton (00:43):
Well, there’s a much very long story, but the brief version is I gave my life to the Lord at age 21 after growing up Christian, but backsliding from the Lord for quite a number of years. I was involved in a car accident, which was a very serious situation at the time, and God used that to wake me up spiritually. And so from age 21 until now, and I’m 42 now, so it’s been actually exactly 21 years since then I’ve been walking with the Lord. I was a part of a vineyard church for a number of years in northern California, which is where I’ve spent most of my life in my ministry. And then I spent a couple of years up at Bethel Church in Redding getting some ministry training and equipping. And then I was a part of a church in San Francisco from 2008 into 2013.
(01:29):
So I would be a part of the team that would lead outreaches across the city of San Francisco. I’ve done a lot of street ministry and so on and so forth. But even from a young age, I’ve always had a heart for Jesus. And even when I was much younger, I remember telling some of my friends about the Lord. So I guess you could say it’s always been a part of my d n a and I believe who the Lord’s called me to be. And then in 2013, about a decade ago, I felt the Lord called me to begin my own ministry, which is called Overflow Ministries. And I’ve been doing this now for a decade, an independent evangelistic ministry, traveling and speaking around the world, winning people to Christ. And so that’s how it basically all happened.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (02:10):
So tell me about the name of your ministry Overflow ministries. Talk to me about the overflow.
Zac Linton (02:18):
Well, John 10 says that the thief comes to steal, to kill and to destroy. But Jesus says, I have come that you would have life and life abundant. That word abundant can also be translated as overflow or as more than enough. One of my favorite scriptures, two of my favorite scriptures that are still life scriptures for me to this day are Psalm 23, 5 and John 15, five, Psalm 23, 5 says, thou anoints my head with oil, my cup runneth over and John 15, five, Jesus says, I am the vine. You are the branches. He who abides in me and I in him will bear much fruit for apart from me. You can do nothing. And so I really felt from an early age that the Lord, those are very foundational scriptures for me, not only for the ministry, but really for my own personal walk with Jesus Christ.
(03:10):
I believe that religion, check this revelation. Religion tells people to try to bear fruit in order to abide, but relationship with Jesus. And the gospel says, first you abide that you’ll bear much fruit. And so what I learned was a lot of people are stuck in trying to do all these things for God. And that’s really what Paul addresses in some of his epistles of you who began in the spirit are you now being perfected by the law or by the flesh? And I feel like some people, depending on your background, maybe you really want to be a good Christian or you really want to follow the Lord or you really have a value for holiness. And all those things are wonderful and those things are from the Lord. But what the revelation that really set me free in my own personal walk is that God wants us to have an overflow of the Holy Spirit that begins with our faith in Christ and what he has done for us on the cross, which none of us deserved and none of us could ever earn, but it’s a life empowered by the Holy Spirit that truly is a glorious and a joyful and a victorious one.
(04:06):
And so I just named my ministry that so I could constantly remind myself to never get into striving, to never try and do it in my own strength, my own thinking, my own human ability to always rely on the overflow of the Holy Spirit. And I really try to impart that whether I’m preaching in churches or mentoring or whatever, that’s really a core value that I want people to understand from my ministry as well.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (04:28):
Now, you’ve done a lot of ministry in California. You started out preaching on the University of California, Berkeley campus, and there is a real mission field there, a lot of people that really need Jesus. What are some of the questions that people are asking these days and how do you answer them?
Zac Linton (04:53):
Wow, that’s a whole podcast in and of itself. Yeah, it’s funny. So let me tell a little bit of this story and I’ll answer your question as well. So I mean, I began the ministry by going to uc, Berkeley. That’s kind of the target that I felt the Lord called me to in the very inception of the ministry. So I would go out into the center of campus, I’d bring my Bible with me, and I would just begin preaching the word of God, open air. And it definitely stirred up some feathers, a lot of demons manifested. I mean, I was cursed at, I was yelled at. I had people hiss at me a few times and I definitely had some people listening. So it was sort of a little bit of everything that you found. And it’s funny because I think no matter how much we prepare, and there’s nothing wrong with apologetics, we absolutely I think should study certain questions and certain people are called more specifically to those kinds of ministries.
(05:44):
But what I really found worked for me was just saying, you know what, Lord, I don’t have all the answers to all the questions. I know you’ve given all of us to mind, but Jesus said to his apostles that when you’re brought before kings and governors, don’t worry about what you’re going to say because it will be given to you in that hour what to speak because it will not be you speaking, but it will be the spirit of your father. And so my prayer literally, I mean this sounds simple and sorry to give you guys an answer that isn’t a formula, but it’s just reliance on the Holy Spirit and literally saying, Lord, would you give me the spirit of wisdom and revelation so that when these people come to ask me these questions that I have some sort of an answer that’s of you?
(06:21):
Now, a few of the questions that I did encounter regularly or objections you might say. The other thing to encourage anyone who’s just getting started in evangelism or college ministry or whatever is that Solomon writes in Ecclesiastes that there’s nothing new under the sun. And I think what you’ll find is after I’ve been doing street ministry and preaching in churches in various places around the world for a long time, and after a little while it becomes like this well-worn path where you’re like, okay, I’ve heard that objection before. Okay, I’ve heard that excuse before. Okay, I’ve heard that problem before. So one of them is, well, what do I need God for? I’ll just find my own path. I’ll find my own truth. I believe in Buddhism, I was raised Muslim, I was raised Catholic. I don’t believe in the Bible because of X, Y and Z.
(07:07):
And so it’s sort of this, I feel like at the core of a lot of objections nowadays, Daniel, is this what I would call war on just truth in and of itself that this idea that there is no one truth, that there are many different truths, and really truth is subjective, it’s no longer absolute. And when you look at the laws of the universe, it says in Romans one that since the creation of the world, God’s invisible qualities have been made known. So that man is without excuse and no serious common sense person would argue with gravity or with all these things in the universe that are so consistent, that are so absolute that we know we can rely on these things. And yet when it comes to God or it comes to the path of salvation, it’s just amazing to me how people are so self-deceived into thinking that I can just, I use this example all the time.
(07:53):
I say, okay, if I’m in northern California and I want to get to la, are you telling me I can just point my car in any direction I want to go in and I could just drive as hard as I want and I’m eventually going to get to la? And they would say, well, that’s ridiculous. I’ll say, well then it’s literally that’s no more ridiculous than you telling me that you can just find your own path to God or you can just do whatever you want and that’s going to be good enough to get you into heaven. So that’s a big objection. The other thing I noticed too, a lot, Daniel, is that when people are offended or upset at you for preaching the word of God, there’s usually a root issue. I’m sure you’ve seen this as well. You have a lot of experiences in the ministry.
(08:28):
And usually what I try to discern when I’m speaking with somebody is what’s really going on with this person? Sometimes they’ll be giving me this philosophical argument of if God is so true, then why is there suffering in the world? Why did this happen or why would he allow? Those are very common types of objections, but often what I find is that’s not even the real objection. The real objection is I’m angry at God because my sister has cancer or my sister has down syndrome. I’m angry at God because my parents are divorced or I’m angry at God because my boyfriend left me or hurt me, or my girlfriend left me. And so it’s like people project onto God, all the pain they’ve been through in life for whatever reason, God gets blamed for that, and then that becomes a wound inside of them, and then that sort of becomes a barrier to God.
(09:12):
And so a lot of times when I’m speaking with people, I think there’s a place for intellectually answering their questions, but we need to go deeper. And that goes back to what I said earlier about wisdom and listening to the Holy Spirit. You have to say, okay, holy Spirit, what does this man or woman really need? Number one, are they even open to your gospel or am I just having an argument with somebody? Because one of my rules is the moment I feel like I’m just getting into some argument with somebody who really isn’t open at all to the gospel, they just want to argue and debate with me, I’ll usually exit that conversation pretty quickly and I’ll tell you why. First of all, it’s generally not fruitful at all. And number two, the more time I spend with Joe argumentative over here, the less time I have to keep reaching out to other people on the campus. And so all I can say is, I mean, there’s so many other questions and objections probably that I could talk about, but I’d say the biggest ones are, I’ll find my own truth, or I think I’m a good person, so therefore I don’t really need God. I think I’m good enough to go to heaven. And again, these are not new objections.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (10:14):
Now you’re doing something very unique this year. You are taking a ministry sabbatical. Talk to me about why you’re doing that and why you think it’s important for ministers to take sabbaticals from time to time and to have a time for spiritual renewal.
Zac Linton (10:37):
Yeah. Well, first of all, I’m from the western world in America, and for all of America’s great qualities, I would say that there’s definitely kind of a workaholism that’s pretty inbred into our culture. And so really, God kind of brought this sabbatical upon me. I’ve read through the scriptures a number of times, so I know that God rested on the seventh day, but I hadn’t really dug deeply into what I would call a deeper, more extended sabbatical. And frankly, I’d never heard anybody teach on the subject ever. I mean, I never heard a sermon on a Sunday about you need to take a year off to seek the Lord and to rest. And so the way it came about for me was at the end of last year, which was going on my ninth year in ministry with Overflow Ministries, I was at my parents’ church in northern California just visiting around the Christmas holiday season.
(11:29):
And I ran into an old friend of our family and we were talking, and she just asked me a simple question during our conversation. She said, Zach, I really focus on helping minister to ministers because oftentimes ministers themselves are very neglected, they’re burned out and they’re always giving, but most people are blind to the fact that those folks need ministry as well. She said all that to me. And then she asked me this question, she said, when was the last time you took a sabbatical? And as soon as she said that, it was like I knew it was the Holy Spirit talking to me like a ton of bricks just kind of hit me right in my chest. And I paused and I said, I haven’t. And it was like the Lord used that conversation and the woman was so nice, she wasn’t scolding me or, oh man, you’re going to burn out you.
(12:12):
This is wrong. You need to hurry up and repent and do. I mean, she didn’t say any of that. She just asked me one simple question and the Lord used that. And so after that I just realized like, wow, Lord, the more I thought about it, I realized if the biblical rhythm is once every seven years, and where that comes from is if you study the Old Testament, the Lord actually tells Israel to rest, to allow the land to rest for an entire year. And what’s amazing is when you study that, Israel freaks out because they say, well, wait a minute, God, are you kidding me? If we rest for a whole year, if we don’t plant crops and plow and do all this work and do all this stuff that we usually do, we’re going to starve to death. And the Lord says, no, you’re not.
(12:51):
I’m going to provide for you. I’m going to bless you. I’m going to bless you double. And we also see that in the wilderness when the children of Israel are going through the wilderness for 40 years, that the Lord began to send the manna every day, and on the sixth day he sent them a double portion so they could rest on the seventh day. And so we see this principle, this is part of who God is and who his character is. And so as I began preparing for this, I started praying and saying, Lord, I don’t even know how to do this. What do I even do? Am I just supposed to hang out and watch Netflix for a year? And I was like, of course. That’s not what I’m supposed to do. And as I prayed into it, and again, I hesitate to give a formula. I want to give principles. I do believe the Lord can uniquely tailor it for each and every person, but I think that the principle is God is a God of rest. And that when we go through ministry, I don’t know about anyone watching this podcast, but somebody needs to hear this. I’ve been through betrayals, I’ve been through heartbreaks, I’ve been through hard times, I’ve been through persecutions. I’ve seen God do amazing things like salvations and miracles and healings, but I’ve also been through a lot. And I feel like in other
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (13:52):
Words, you’re doing real ministry. I mean, that’s the story. If you’re in ministry long enough, you are going to experience some of those things. It it’s never easy. And if yout, and it takes an emotional toil on people.
Zac Linton (14:07):
Yeah. Amen. And so I think I remember also right around the time I was having this conversation with this lady, a friend of mine who’s a pastor out of Chicago. He said, Zach, I just heard some recent big church-wide study that was done in America that 40% of pastors are thinking of quitting the ministry. And when I heard that statistic, I said, wow, Lord, something is really wrong with that. And I’m not saying that there’s just one simple answer to that, but I would argue that one of the big, big reasons for that is I really believe in our American culture. We have neglected the command and the gift I will add of Sabbath that the Lord has given us. And so as I was praying about it getting ready, this is what I felt like the Lord said to me, he, Zach, pull back from public ministry for the most part.
(14:54):
Okay, obviously we’re doing this podcast, but for the most part I canceled. I had an international trip invitation to Pakistan this year that I had to call the gentleman and say, you know what? I’m so grateful for this opportunity, but I think we’re going to have to put it off till another year or a couple years from now. And I said, I’m not really looking to preach or teach in any churches. I’m not going to be doing any street evangelism, at least not leading a bunch of teams in street. And so it was like just pulling back from the public ministry in order to focus on the private ministry. And so the Lord gave me six goals for this year, and I’m going to share them briefly. My first goal, and I believe this is for anyone who takes a sabbatical, is that Jesus Christ has to be your first love and he has to be my first love.
(15:38):
In Revelation we see that, that there’s churches that are doing so amazing and they’re winning the loss and they’re resisting false teachers and they’re doing all this hardcore stuff and even resisting persecution. And Jesus literally says, but this one thing I have against you, you’ve forgotten your first love. And I want to tell you something that is so grievous that when you read that passage further, he says, if you do not repent, I will come and remove your lampstand. That’s how serious our relationship and our intimacy with Jesus should be to all of us. And so I think one of the dangers is we get so focused on ministry that ministry can actually become an idol, and we can be so focused on ministry and Oh, I got to do this event and I got to raise money and I got to mentor my team and disciple this and get a building and do this and dah, dah, dah.
(16:20):
And again, nothing wrong with those things in their proper places. So that’s the first thing is that Jesus would always be our first love. Secondly, and thirdly, the Lord told me to read through the whole Bible this year, which isn’t really even that big of a goal. But the third one that he said was, Zach, I want you to memorize scripture a lot more intentionally this year than you have previously. And just sharing this to whoever may see this around the world in America and the Western world, at least up until now, we’re so blessed with the fact that we have very easy access to the word of God and to Bibles. But I’m sure that Daniel has seen this in some of his ministry. I mean, you go into some nations and you don’t get easy access to the scriptures. A matter of fact, some people, if they’re caught with the Bible, they can be put in prison or arrested for it.
(17:03):
And it was like the Holy Spirit was convicted me like, Zach, you take the Bible for granted because you think you’re always going to have it. What if you didn’t have it like a year from now? What if you didn’t have it five years from now? How much of it would you actually have within you memorized? And so I’ve really felt convicted this year to really press in more to memorizing the word of God. So those are my three first three goals. The last three is just kind of going through inner healing. I call it healing and wisdom, just processing the stuff that we all go through in ministry and life and not just feeling better about it, but really looking at it through the lens of Jesus Christ, looking at it through the lens of God’s redemption and the cross. And even being able to say, like Joseph said, though, maybe that person or that situation was meant for evil against me.
(17:45):
The Lord can turn all those things into good. And that’s a process, and I just want to encourage somebody watching this. I have spent time in nature, I’ve spent time praying and worshiping, and the Lord will just kind of peel back a layer. Sometimes when I’m in those places, I’ve spent time talking to pastors and friends like Daniel or many others that I’ve had the privilege to know around the United States. And God just, he’s so amazing. He weaves it all together where he brings healing in those places that we need it. But I feel like you have to make room for it. And that’s the purpose of Sabbath is you’re taking a step back in order to listen more to the Lord, in order to allow the Lord to do those deep works, those deep surgeries within us that we need. And then my fifth and sixth goal is number five.
(18:24):
God would establish me. I feel like I’m in a transitional phase right now where I’m really seeking the Lord about where he wants me to be located for the next 10 years of ministry. I’m feeling like my hour in California is coming to an end, so I’m just praying into that. I’m asking for the Lord also to just connect me with the right team and the right people that I need to run with for this next decade of life. And then my last goal is to finish writing my book. So that’s what my sabbatical has looked like. And I’ve had the privilege to travel across the us. I’ve stayed in homes, I’ve stayed in Airbnbs, I’ve even been homeless a couple days this year. But to God be the glory, and for me, I feel like it’s just been this incredible adventure with the Lord where he has shown me his faithfulness again and again, this is the other crazy thing.
(19:07):
When I was getting ready for my journey, I was getting ready and I was packing everything and I grabbed one of my credit cards. I thought, what if some crazy emergency happens? What if my car blows up? Or what if some unexpected thing happens? I need this credit card as a backup just to take care of everything. And as soon as I put my finger on that card, I felt a check in my spirit. And the Holy Spirit said to me, Zach, are you going to trust in debt or are you going to trust in me?
(19:36):
And that just wrecked me. And so I said, okay, Lord. So I put the credit card back in the desk and I just said, I’m not going to bring it. I’m not going to have a plan B. Now that seems really foolish and reckless if you don’t have faith and if the Lord has not spoken to you, but when the Lord has told you to do something, he will supply everything that you and I need in order to accomplish that. The day before I left on my sabbatical at the beginning of the year, I got together with a gentleman who’s a friend of our family for coffee. He wanted to meet with me. We had a great time of prayer fellowship. And right before we were ending, he said, I have something for you. Don’t go anywhere. He goes to his car, he comes back and he hands me an envelope with over $5,000 cash in it.
(20:16):
And he said, this is manna for your journey. And I just sat in my car, Daniel, and I just wept for probably 15 minutes after that because I just thought, Lord, why would I doubt you? I feel like the Lord wants to challenge all of us, and I’m just sharing this testimony to stir all of our faith up. God is so much bigger. God has a better way than our way. God has a better way if we’ll actually trust him. And I feel like one of the words of the Lord to the American church is that we’ve trusted too much in marketing schemes and fundraising schemes and man’s plans and programs instead of really listening and depending on the Holy Spirit and doing what he has told us to do. And so anyway, I could continue on for another half an hour, but this sabbatical has changed my life, Daniel, seriously, I feel like a young child again in my spirit, I can feel the Lord peeling back layers of my heart healing me.
(21:06):
I feel more in love with Jesus now than I have been in so many years. And so I want to encourage you, if you feel burned out, I would argue you need to take a sabbatical. If you have the faith, take a whole year off and watch God do miracles for you, but at least get away for a couple of months and say, Lord, help me to be re-centered. Help me to remember why I’m doing what I’m doing. Fall back in love with Jesus. Spend time with your family. If you’re married and you have kids, get out into nature. Just slow down because like I said, when we’re so busy, we don’t have room in our spirits to just listen to God. I think a lot of people are busy doing stuff, and I liken it to a car stuck in the mud. You can be busy but not moving anywhere.
(21:46):
A car in the mud is running and spinning its wheels and it’s trying really hard. And maybe that’s you right now watching this podcast. Maybe you feel that way. I want to encourage you get unstuck by just getting on the mountain with the Lord like Moses to get away with God. Like Samuel in the prophets. And this is the last thing I’ll say about it, Daniel, when Jesus was at this beautiful moment of his ministry just preached the sermon on the Mount, thousands of people are listening to him multiplying the loaves and the fish, and everybody’s looking for Jesus. And then he says to his disciple, let’s go away for a little while. Let’s just go on the mountain side and be all by ourselves in America. We’d be like, wait a minute. You mean you’re not going to do another conference? You’re not going to go do another outreach. You’re not going to go preach another big. It’s like, no, we’re going to do that in its proper time and place, but we need that time to rest. So anyway, I pray that ministers to you, whoever you are watching.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (22:37):
So if you meet a minister who is on the verge of burning out and just been overwhelmed by the stress and strain of ministry, what advice would you give them as they consider going on a sabbatical?
Zac Linton (22:54):
Yeah, I would say number one is probably do a one to a three day water fast and just really ask the Lord to speak to you concerning what he wants your sabbatical to look like. I can’t overemphasize how important that is. I have a lot to say on this subject, Daniel. I really believe. So one of the key scriptures for me this year, and I would argue for all of us as we press more into the heart of God, I call it running at the pace of grace, and Jesus said that my yoke is easy and my burden is light. That’s Matthew chapter 11. Now, one of the theme verses for this year is Isaiah 40 31, and it says this, but those that wait upon the Lord will what? Will renew their strength, they will mount up with wings like eagles that will run and not be weary and they will walk and not faint.
(23:42):
I literally believe, I’m not saying we don’t go through persecutions. I’m not saying we don’t go through difficulties and hardships. All of us do, but I don’t believe the will of God for you or me is to be in a place of extended discouragement or weariness. I absolutely do not believe that’s from the Lord. That’s why we have the comforter. That’s why we have the advocate. That’s why we have the fire of the God in our spirits. And I believe that people get into that place of discouragement and weariness and wanting to give up for two reasons. One, they’ve allowed willful sin into their life somehow, whatever that might be. Okay? And there’s a very simple solution to that. You need to repent, amen. If you’re doing drugs, if you’re doing anything behind the scenes that the Lord has said that’s wrong, you need to repent and let me encourage you to find a brother or two in Christ that you can be accountable to.
(24:28):
I think a lot of people in ministry feel alone. They feel two things. One, they feel alone. Two, they feel like if I actually get open and confess, it’s going to ruin my ministry, it’s going to ruin my marriage. And not to say there aren’t any consequences to sin depending on what it is that’s been going on behind closed doors, but I want to say, I think it’s a lot better to just come out and just be upfront with it and say, you know what, Lord, whatever it is, whatever issue’s been going on, just confess it. Get it in the open, and God, I believe God will have a path of restoration. I’m not saying it’s always going to be easy, but the alternative is you’re going to die anyways. If you stay in that sin, God’s eventually going to bring judgment on you and your ministry and trust me, it’s going to be way, way, way worse in the end.
(25:09):
And so that’s number one. But the other one is that I think people become weary and discouraged because they’ve disconnected from the source. And that’s why it goes right back to the whole idea of this overflow ministries, John 15, five, Psalm 23, we can’t bear fruit by ourselves. And I feel like a lot of people are branches that have disconnected from intimacy with the vine, and they’re striving and struggling to try to keep their ministry going and their marriage going and win the loss and do this. And it’s like, guys, that’s insanity. Please, Lee, stop. Don’t do that anymore. Just get alone with Jesus. Allow him to restore your soul and restore your heart. And I really believe Sabbath is God’s methodology. It’s kind of like a honeymoon. It’s like an anniversary. You’re married to your wife and you want to renew that intimacy. Guess what?
(25:52):
You’re not going to do it if you’re both just crazy busy all the time just missing each other like ships in the night. You have to be intentional. Amen. You have to pause. You have to say, wait a minute, where did we disconnect? When did that happen? Oh, a year ago. Oh my gosh. We need to look at this. And because my conviction, I already shared when we wait on the Lord, when we seek his face, when Jesus truly is the thing that I’m after more than even my ministry. And I feel too, like somebody watching this might need to hear that our ministry is not our identity. Okay? I’m not Zach the evangelist or Zach the prophet. I’m Zach, the child of the living God because of his great mercy, because of the blood of the lamb. Amen. And you’re a son or you’re a daughter of the most high God you see.
(26:33):
And when we understand that that’s our identity, we’re no longer performing for acceptance. We’re not performing in order to feel good about ourselves in order to prove anything to anybody. We’re simply overflowing with the love of Christ, with the gospel, with the good news and with the truth that a dying world desperately needs to hear. And I’ll be the first to confess that no matter how much you think, you’re never going to somehow stray back into some sort of weird performance mindset. I feel like it’s just part of, sadly, the fleshly human nature. And so it’s good to have these rhythms of saying, you know what? Let me pause. Let me have an intentional time of checking in with the Lord and allowing him to renew my soul, to answer that question and recap fast and pray and ask the Lord what your sabbatical should look like, and then address one of the two issues and really try to identify, is there sin in my life I need to deal with and or have I disconnected from the vine? Have I let ministry or the stresses of life or other things literally become God to me instead of making sure that Jesus is God?
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (27:32):
As you come out of this sabbatical, I believe your ministry is going to be stronger and more powerful than ever before. More nations, more preaching, more people reach than you ever have before because there will be a new strength that is coming. If someone is interested in learning more about your ministry, what is your website? How can they get in touch with you?
Zac Linton (28:02):
You can just go to overflow.global is the website address. I also have a YouTube channel, and you can reach that by going to zach linson.com, or you can look me up on YouTube by just typing my name in. But you just put zach linson.com, your browser, it’ll forward you to my YouTube, and that’s spelled Z A C L I N T O n.com, and then overflow Do global. There’s not a.com on it. It’s global. So those are my two websites. I mean, I am honored to connect with other people. If you feel called by the Lord, you have a question. If you want to somehow participate in Global Missions or join our pro team or do whatever, then I’m happy to be a resource to you. But please check out Daniel’s ministry as well. He’s doing an incredible work, and you guys, Jesus is coming back soon, and so I just feel like, you know what?
(28:53):
If I could say this last word to all of us, man, we’re all on the same team, and I really do believe that as we get closer and closer to the coming of Christ, and I do believe we’re starting to see a lot more and more and more of what we would call birth pains in the earth and in the nations leading up to that, I feel like let’s be more unified if we can agree on Jesus Christ crucified and raised, the Bible’s, the word of God, and that everybody needs his salvation, otherwise you going to heaven or Hell. I feel like if we can unite around those essentials, we can lovingly maybe have discussions about the other peripheral doctrinal disagreements perhaps we may have, but let’s do it in love and let’s do our best to pray for believe in speak well of encourage and labor together in the harvest of God.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (29:38):
Now, you told me earlier that one of the things that you’re praying for is a spouse to join you in ministry, and so if there is a cute girl who’s listening, what’s the best phone number for her to reach you at?
Zac Linton (29:53):
You know what? I don’t know if I want to give out my phone number on
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (29:55):
This podcast,
Zac Linton (29:57):
But you can. I mean, if you want to send me an email and just say, hi, I’m more than happy to meet you. Yeah, I mean, just send me an email. My email is Zach Zac c@divineoverflow.org, or you can send me a message to my website and say, I saw the podcast. I’d love to talk to you sometime. So I’m open to some of those conversations if you’re so bold as you want to send me that message.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (30:20):
I was totally joking, but I actually met my wife on the mission field, on the border of Rwanda in Congo, and so when you’re doing what God has called you to do and running after him, if you find someone who’s running in the same direction, that could be the right person for you. So amen. I know there’s a lot of godly women out there that are just praying that God’s in them, a godly spouse too.
Zac Linton (30:46):
Yeah, and I’ll be honest with you on that note, anybody who’s single men or women, it’s like a vast wasteland out there, to be honest with you. I mean, I tried the online dating thing a couple of times, really, really didn’t like it at all. And so maybe there’s people like me that you just feel like, man, I would like to meet somebody amazing who I feel like is a good compliment to who I am without compromising your values and your beliefs. And I think that’s one of the reasons why I think I’ve, I’m still single at this point. It’s not the only one, which is a whole separate podcast in and of itself, but I want to encourage you that, yeah, I mean, just stay true to the faith. And like Daniel said, I believe that if you pray and you wait on the Lord, whether you meet ’em at church, you meet ’em through a podcast, you meet ’em on some conference, you meet ’em, go door to door evangelism with a group or something, that God has those people out there and yeah, I wish it was a little bit easier though just to connect people.
(31:37):
I wish there was a Holy Spirit sort of matchmaking service that wasn’t creepy or weird or awkward where they could help people get matched up. I’m sure there’s a lot of other people out. We
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (31:47):
Should start a website though. Holy Spirit hookup. In fact, if you get any emails out of this podcast, I’m going to change the name to the Evangelism and Christian Dating Podcast. That’d be great.
Zac Linton (32:01):
Yeah, there we go. That’ll be awesome.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (32:03):
Hey, Zach, thank you so much for joining me on the Evangelism Podcast. So good to hear about your ministry. I know God has big things in store for you, and thank you for sharing some of these really important thoughts about the power of taking a sabbatical.
Zac Linton (32:18):
Yeah, amen. God bless you. Can we close with the word of prayer?
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (32:22):
Please go for it.
Zac Linton (32:23):
Yeah. Father, I just thank you for those who are watching. If somehow you’re watching this and you’re either on the fence or a churchgoer, but you haven’t given your life to Christ, just say yes to him right now. Say, Jesus, I want to make you my Lord and Savior. I believe you died for me and Rose again. I repent and put my life into your hands, and God will guide you. Find a church, get a Bible. If you need resources, please reach out to Daniel’s ministry, or if you’d like to reach out to mine, we’d love to help you. And Father, for everyone else, God, we just release encouragement specifically to anybody in ministry, Lord, any leaders, any associate pastors, worship leaders, pastors, evangelists, missionaries, whoever, business leaders, God who just feel discouraged, who feel like they’ve been fighting an uphill battle with little support.
(33:07):
God, I just pray in the name of Jesus for a breaking to take place for a wave of encouragement. God, I pray you will show them where and if they may have gotten stuck somewhere, Lord, release this revelation that you are the God of rest. Lord, your word says that you give rest to your beloved Lord. Your word says that as we wait upon you, we will renew our strength. So we just speak a renewing of strength. We rebuke discouragement, we rebuke fear. We rebuke every lie. The devil that would try to take you out because you are needed in the end time. Army of God, you are important and you’re not important because of your performance. You’re important because you’re a son, because you’re a daughter of the most high God. So Father, we give you the honor and the praise, Lord, we say, let your work continue throughout America, throughout the nation. Scott, thank you for Daniel and his ministry as well. Lord, I pray for an overflow. God, I pray for the funding, the resources, the team, and the expansion, Lord, in the years ahead of souls, and we give you the honor and the praise, Lord, in Jesus name. Amen.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (34:03):
Amen. Thank you, Zac. Appreciate it.
